3-year-old boy attacked by dog while trick-or-treating in Winnipeg

A Winnipeg couple are asking dog owners who give out candy on Halloween to make sure their pets are kept away from kids — something they say could have prevented their three-year-old son from being attacked and ending up going to the hospital.

Maureen and Scott Dawson were trick-or-treating with their two sons on Monday night when the young boys and their cousins went to knock on a door.

"We heard the kids screaming, and we just thought it was a Halloween trick. I didn't register that it was danger right away," said Maureen.

"I noticed my son, who's three, being dragged across the driveway by this giant dog."

Both Maureen and Scott ran toward the children to protect them. Scott got there first, and pulled the dog off his younger son.

"I just wanted him off, so I got there as fast as I could and ripped the dog off, tackled him, got him down," Scott said.

The father says he managed to get up on his feet and he and his brother-in-law yelled at the dog, trying to get it to back down, because it looked like it was moving to attack the children again.

Maureen believes the owners didn't realize how serious the attack was, because they kept yelling at Scott to get off their dog.

Later, when the dog owner realized the three-year-old was bleeding from his face, they came over to check on him.

The Dawsons took their son to the hospital, where doctors told them to monitor him for signs of rabies, because the dog's owners didn't have proof of vaccination.

The boy has a big cut by his eye and bite marks across his neck, but didn't need stitches.

CBC News approached the owners of the dog that allegedly attacked the child, who said they didn't want to comment.

Scott says this experience has marred Halloween for the family.

"This is pretty much it for Halloween. And it's not just this Halloween. It's every Halloween to come, because all the kids are traumatized. They don't want to go to a stranger's door anymore," he said.

The family hopes dog owners will be more careful when opening their doors next year.

Tickets issued to dog's owner

The City of Winnipeg's Animal Services Agency says it has issued two tickets under the pet ownership bylaw.

One was for failing to license the dog, which appears to be a boxer-mastiff mix, and the other was for failing to keep its rabies vaccines up to date, the agency said in an email on Tuesday afternoon.

Animal Services will meet with the owner of the dog, which could possibly be given an at-risk or dangerous dog designation after an investigation, the agency said.

The City of Winnipeg says residents should proactively place their dogs in a secure room or kennel to prevent attacks against delivery people or children in costumes.